XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.society.liberalism, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: dead.addicts.dont.buy.drugs@gmail.com   
      
   Unemployable Trumper Nutjob  wrote in   
   news:suib5m$9d7$1@dont-email.me:   
      
   > Give the little bastards some heroin like they do in Oregon.  Dead   
   > addicts don't buy any more drugs.   
      
   New research, involving millions of people worldwide over decades, adds   
   to worries that heavy use of high-potency cannabis could exacerbate the   
   mental health crisis in the U.S.   
      
   Over the last decade of diagnosing countless young patients with new   
   psychotic disorders, one striking result has stuck out for New York City   
   psychiatrist Dr. Ryan Sultan.   
      
   “Of all the people I’ve diagnosed with a psychotic disorder,” he said,   
   “I can’t think of a single one who wasn’t also positive for cannabis.”   
      
   Sultan, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia Irving   
   Medical Center, is one of many experts raising serious concerns about   
   the increasing marijuana use by adolescents and young adults.   
      
   And the evidence is growing of marijuana’s association with psychiatric   
   disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia,   
   especially in young men.   
      
   New research published this month, involving millions of people   
   worldwide over decades, is adding to worries that heavy use of   
   high-potency cannabis and legalization of recreational weed in many U.S.   
   states could exacerbate the nation's mental health crisis in young   
   adults.   
      
   “There is a big sense of urgency not just because more people are   
   smoking marijuana, but because more people are using it in ways that are   
   harmful, with higher and higher concentration of THC,” Dr. Nora Volkow,   
   director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), said in an   
   interview.   
      
   One of the studies, from researchers in Denmark in collaboration with   
   the U.S. National Institutes of Health, found evidence of an association   
   between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia. The finding was most   
   striking in young men ages 21-30, but was also seen in women of the same   
   age.   
      
   The paper, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, looked at   
   data from almost 7 million men and women in Denmark over the course of a   
   few decades to look for a link between schizophrenia and cannabis use   
   disorder.   
      
   The magnitude of the connection between cannabis and schizophrenia for   
   young men surprised study author Volkow, who was expecting the number to   
   be closer to 10%.   
      
   “This is worrisome,” she said.   
      
   There are now 22 states that allow recreational use of marijuana, with   
   Minnesota likely to become the next state to legalize it.   
      
   Whether recreational cannabis laws contribute to underage consumption is   
   unclear, but Volkow has made addressing cannabis use among teenagers one   
   of NIDA’s top priorities. Daily marijuana use among young adults has   
   risen to record highs, with more than 1 in 10 of young adults ages 19-30   
   now reporting daily use, and almost half reporting use within the last   
   year, according to the agency's most recent data.   
      
   Another study, led by Sultan and Columbia researchers published earlier   
   this month, found that teenagers who use cannabis only recreationally   
   are two to four times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders,   
   including  depression and suicidality, than teenagers who don’t use   
   cannabis at all.   
      
   Because research to date has been observational and doesn’t directly   
   prove cause and effect, the connection between marijuana and psychiatric   
   disorders is controversial. It’s unclear whether people who already have   
   or are developing psychiatric conditions are more likely to turn to   
   cannabis as a way to self-medicate or whether cannabis use triggers   
   mental problems.   
      
   Volkow is optimistic that a large ongoing study on adolescent brain   
   development at the National Institutes of Health can help answer this   
   question.   
      
   Sultan acknowledged the limitations of the evidence. “It’s sort of this   
   circular feedback where they’re kind of just feeding off each other,” he   
   said.   
      
   Dr. Deepak D’Souza, a psychiatrist at Yale University who has been   
   studying cannabis for 20 years, insists there are too many lines of   
   evidence to ignore.   
      
   “We may be grossly underestimating the potential risks associated with   
   cannabis,” he said.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)